“This is the most comprehensive and useful guide into Augmented Reality I have ever seen. Not only did I learn a lot, I will apply it to our work.”

Let’s design for the best of humanity and the best of technology.

Augmented Reality (AR) blurs the boundary between the physical and digital worlds. In AR’s current exploration phase, innovators are beginning to create compelling and contextually rich applications that enhance a user’s everyday experiences. In this book, Dr. Helen Papagiannis — a world-leading expert in the field — introduces you to AR: how it’s evolving, where the opportunities are, and where it’s headed.

If you’re a designer, developer, entrepreneur, student, educator, business leader, artist, or simply curious about AR’s possibilities, this insightful guide explains how you can become involved with this exciting, fast-moving technology.

— STEFAN SAGMEISTER, DESIGNER AND COFOUNDER SAGMEISTER & WALSH INC.

About the author

Dr. Helen Papagiannis

Dr. Helen Papagiannis is internationally recognized as a leading expert in Augmented Reality (AR). Her work spans over a decade in the field as a researcher, designer, and technology evangelist. She is the former Chief Innovation Officer at Infinity Augmented Reality Inc. (New York and Tel Aviv), and was a Senior Research Associate at York University’s Augmented Reality Lab (Toronto).

Dr. Papagiannis’s presentations and exhibitions include TEDx (Technology, Entertainment, Design), ISMAR (International Society for Mixed and Augmented Reality), and ISEA (International Symposium for Electronic Art). Her TEDx 2011 talk was featured among the Top 10 Talks on AR, and in 2016 she was a finalist for the prestigious World Technology Award. Prior to her augmented life, Dr. Papagiannis was a member of Bruce Mau Design where she was project lead on “Massive Change: The Future of Global Design”, a groundbreaking exhibition and best-selling book (Phaidon, 2004) examining the new inventions and technologies changing the world.

This holiday is US-only, but why not use it as an excuse to send out a warm and fuzzy message?

I’m very grateful to be living in a time where I can get such immediate feedback and meaningful connection with readers. I’m certain I wouldn’t be doing this if it were any other time. The tools we have with modern technology were considered science fiction just a few decades ago.
You have shown massive support from all over the world, from countries I only hope to visit one day, and from people that I wouldn’t have connected with if it weren’t for our mutual love of story.

I promise to carry on creating things that I love and that you find interesting.

You can start the smart home of your dreams, the stepping stone to a horrible existence where you scream at the unresponsive devices that have gotten you locked outside (hopefully) or worse, inside your home with no way out!

You can get a cute little wiretap for your home that speaks! It can also provide evidence to court in case it is needed to prove that you did, in fact, abuse your wife before she murdered you with the steak knife you got as a wedding gift!

You can get a smart babycam with unplugged exploits so that paedophiles can watch your cuddly little baby!

You can get a video doorbell that can definitely get hacked to make you think your grandma is visiting instead of a group of burglars!

You can get a smart TV that watches you back while you sleep on the couch, tracks your viewing habits and reports them all in neat little packages back to ad agencies!

This is one we actually suggest you get, the Audible deal:

Seriously, that’s the only offer that’s actually good enough to get immediately. And perhaps a Kindle so you can read our stories in comfort (We got a Kindle Fire 10):

Now, we walk a fine line here. We’re constantly in a catch-22. On one hand, we do use all these products from the large corporations, like the Amazon platform, gmail delivery, Google Analytics. They are tools that open up immense possibilities and can make a small business rival larger ones.

But on the other hand, they do not respect your privacy. And we know that. Now, under the GDPR, these same corporations like Facebook and Google need to abide by these laws for their European customers.

You may not be located in the EU, but it doesn’t matter. These are laws and rights that should be enforced globally, and we plan to adhere to them.

So, here it is:

With the email data we collect, we simply use them to provide you best with our new products on the shop that you use. For example, if you’re a Kobo shopper, you’ll get an extra email telling you about some sale going on that might interest you. The mailing service does track opens and clicks per email. That’s all. We don’t have your name, we don’t have your buying habits, we don’t even know if you went through with buying the thing.

The mailing service we use is called Mailerlite. It’s located in the EU so all GDPR laws are followed by them as well. The service tracks opens, locations, click activity of every email subscriber. Your right-to-be-forgotten is valued and you can use it directly with them.

With the customer data on our shop, we simply use them to complete the transaction, which is delivering you the digital files of the products you purchased. For now the purchase asks for too much personal information, we will soon limit that to the bare essentials. Our Checkout process now asks for just the email and username.

The right-to-be-forgotten can be used at any time, you can simply email us at mythographystudios@gmail.com and request to be purged from all databases.

We do not use DRM so your habits cannot be tracked by us or the corporations that we are partnered with.

This website uses cookies that can see whether you’re a repeat visitor or not.

This website uses Google Analytics that can anonymously track a lot of data about you, even things like screen resolution and operating system. There’s no real way to turn this off and we just use the service to see from which country people come from. (Update April 2018. GA has complied to GDPR and has offered a tool with which we can delete all stored data about a user.)

The outgoing affiliate links to stores such as Amazon contain a 7-day tracking cookie that does track your buying habits and gives all your customer information to Amazon. We have no access to that data. You can avoid that by browsing on the store by yourself through a search of your own and locating the product.

The payment gateway Paypal does not send your personal data or credit card details to us when you complete a purchase through the store. That said, they do track everything you do themselves and you should contact them if you want to know more.

The Facebook Oauth login is there for ease of use. It connects a user and allows him/her to login with us. The connection doesn’t transfer personal details to us from your Facebook profile. But Facebook tracks all such activity, so again, take it up with them.

That’s all up to the point of writing this post, we’ll update it with others as they come up.

If the script doesn’t contain at least one BBC joke, I’ll be sorely disappointed for a perfectly wasted opportunity.

Here’s something that should put your mind at ease:

I, George Saoulidis, give you permission to have a black/asian/latinx/whatever Achilles in your story. I also retroactively give you permission to have any possible combination of skin colour/sexuality/hero name from the Greek epics.

How the fuck can I possibly give permission for something like that, you might ask?

Exactly.

That’s my point. The same way that it’s nobody’s business to give you permission to do something like this, nobody can stop you from doing it either.

The Greek epics do not belong to me, you, or any other Greek in the world. They belong to everybody. So much so that the words “public domain” are too puny to describe them. They’re infused into our culture, shaped the very pathways in our brains. They have inspired endless creators for literal millennia (pause and let that sink in for a moment.)

So, do you want to take a popular myth and make it your own? Are you inspired by Odysseus or Achilles or Zeus and want to see yourself in their shoes, and you also happen to not be white and male? Do you want to cosplay as them, write about them, make films and games and VR experiences about them? Do you want to create and have found inspiration in the most influential and badass mythology of all time?

By all means, go for it.

That won’t mean that I’ll like your story. It won’t mean I’ll spend money on your story. If it objectively sucks, I’ll happily tear you a new one. Or worse, I’ll just ignore it. But if the story is good, if your vision is great, if your interpretation is modern and touches the souls of those around you, then go for it.